Joseph van Nocenti III
Joseph van Nocenti III is a Dauntain of the Black Magician Doom. Overview Joseph has been a grump for as long as anyone has known him. He first appeared in August of 1969 in Daytona Beach. He was a street person at the time, although any who could see his true mien would know him for a noble of House Liam. He was knowledgable in things of the Dreaming and his command of the Arts was impressive. It seemed that he wasn't overly concerned with Banality, which is highly unusual for a sidhe. Rumors circulated that he was one of the Síocháin, although Joseph never confirmed that. He took a neutral stance during the Accordance War, and stepped in to help mediate when the commoners and nobles worked out their differences more peacefully under King David's direction. Afterwards, he was advisor to Queen Morganna in the Kingdom of the White Sands. He enjoyed traveling and took the opportunity to go anywhere, anytime. In his researches, he found many references to old freeholds in the far corners of the world, and his travels were most certainly directed toward finding some of these lost fragments of the Dreaming. he met with limited success, which was more than he expected. One of his successes led to his ultimate downfall. He had spent weeks traveling through the wilderness, seeking the clues which would lead him to his destination. He suspected that a very strong concentration of Glamour existed at the site, protected from the ravages of Banality, for centuries. He found it. From the outside, it was a fortress of incredible splendor, with beauty unmatched in the mortal world. With much excitement, he made his way inside with the help of cantrips. He had tried to get the attention of any faerie within, bur received no answer. Once inside, he saw that the freehold was a shambles. Something had slain the faerie who dwelt inside and destroyed much of the freehold. All of the damage was chimerical, obviously not the work of human hands. He used his skill in Soothsay to speak to the dead fae. The story thus revealed frightened him to the extreme. One of the faeries had been driven insane by the confinement, had wanted to go out and find the Dreaming, to see the human world, to do something. He had to be locked up by his companions simply to maintain their own sanity, and they would not allow him to die. Unfortunately for them, his madness gave him power. He used that power to destroy them all, but found that he couldn't escape... one of them had put wards against his leaving. This had worked beautifully, and would still have were the freehold still secure. Joseph immediately left the freehold to find and stop this mad, darkling fae. The search led to a battle that raged across the wilderness and even into a nearby city, where Joseph arranged for assistance to drive the mad one away. This apparently succeeded, for he returned home with no further problem, at least for a time. On the next new moon, it struck again, seriously damaging the chimerical forms of several members of the court and resisting all attempts to drive it away. The battle lasted until police came to investigate the disturbance. Normally, cops aren't a welcome sight to the Kithain, but in this instance, since they drove the faerie away, the court was happy to see them. This event gave Joseph an idea. Since Banality did not affect him the way it affected most Kithain, he came to the conclusion that he could somehow safely wield it against the faerie. He tried to work out ways in which he could focus his Banality directly at things of Glamour and destroy them. It took a surprisingly short period of time for him to work his technique out, and not much longer to test it. The chimera he destroyed were nothing important in any event. He went forth to destroy the faerie, but his attitude was colder, more dangerous. Where he had been a researcher and explorer, he was now a destroyer. His attempt to destroy the mad faerie succeeded, and he earned a baronetcy as a reward. That wasn't enough for him, however. He desired more. In fact, he wanted the throne of the White Sands. To accomplish this, he honed his new power to a razor keenness. He practiced on any chimera or changeling he could capture. With time, he found he could do a great many things by utilizing Banality and Glamour together in his cantrips. He could do anything from complete destruction of Glamour to selectively neutralizing aspects of it. He also found he enjoyed the power he discovered. For a time, he used his power in the service of the crown, as he did not feel he was strong enough to make his bid. It did not take long, for when such power is fed, it demands more and more to keep the hunger sated. He finally made his attempt to take the throne from the queen. It was an epic battle, wherein chimera and Kithain fought on both sides in a terrible civil war. The deaths were many and mercy was a rare thing. Joseph was very near to succeeding, with Morganna at the point of his faerie-iron sword and his supporters on the verge of slaying the other members of her court. He moved to behead the queen when High King David Ardry and his retinue of paladins strode in. The battle turned tides very quickly, with Joseph's people being knocked comatose by the chimerical weapons the paladins carried. Joseph began gathering his power for one final blast, to destroy all Kithain within the room. Suddenly, the insane faerie, the one whom he had corrupted himself to destroy, arrived and carried him off to places unknown. King David and his seers have not been able to determine if Joseph still lives or where he may be, but there is a title in store for anyone who captures or kills him. Indeed, only House Liam desires his Undoing more than King David. They state that he is a living violation of all the House stands for. Even the Unseelie are behind this. Joseph has already made plans for his next move; he intends to assassinate the real movers and shakers among the sidhe nobility and eventually work his way up to King David. His ultimate goal is not to rule the Kithain, but to destroy them. He has also gathered supporters for this move. The faerie who had rescued him from the paladins' chimerical swords has disappeared again, but it is no matter to Joseph. He must avenge his defeat upon the nobility and this takes precedence above all else. Image Joseph is a sardonically handsome man who seems to be in his mid-thirties. He has appeared to he this age since he first appeared in 1969. This lends credence to the idea that he was, at least at one time, Síocháin. Personal Joseph is charming and witty when around others, especially when he wishes to bring them over to his point of view. His words appeal to the basic hatred many commoners feel for the nobility, and his natural charm makes it incredibly simple to talk people into thinking his way. When he sets his mind to a task, he will finish it. On occasion, though, he feels the weight of the sacrifices he has mad and wishes that he had taken a different path. These are the times when he withdraws from the world around him to meditate. It doesn't take long to justify his actions to himself again. References # CTD. The Autumn People, pp. 92-93. Category:Sidhe (CTD) Category:House Liam (CTD) Category:Grumps (CTD) Category:Unseelie (CTD) Category:Dauntain (CTD)